Hello lovely people! Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

Some of you will have been around since the beginning, when I decided to embark upon the mammoth task of walking to collect my undergraduate degree, and blogged about my journey at http://www.walkingby2013.blogspot.co.uk - and will have come here through my new blog. Others of you will have stumbled upon this page completely by accident. All of you will have absolutely no idea why I'm doing this (again), so allow me to explain:

I wasn't planning on it. At least, I was planning on walking to collect my Master's, but I wasn't going to blog about it, let alone fundraise, because I thought that it wouldn't be that interesting for people to watch me go through the same motions and emotions as last time - no matter how much I wanted to raise more money for my beloved Starlight.

In early April, though, my wheelchair broke. For someone like me, who has cerebral palsy and has (aged 22) yet to take an unaided step, that is a rather drastic occurrence. It left me pretty stuck, but I  decided that I wasn't going to let it keep me stuck. So my plans for the year grew from a simple repetition of the walk to collect my degree to a goal of trying to become considerably less reliant on my chair. 

On the basis of the encouragement I received last time, I thought people might be vaguely interested in my new venture, and consequently started another blog to chronicle it - to be found at http://www.walkingby2015.blogspot.co.uk. Then I figured that, since I was going to be documenting my progress online, it would be a shame not to put the internet to its other good use - fundraising.

However (and it is a big however) I was reticent about asking people for money again, particularly for the same cause, because I know that, when you're doing something for the second time, it can easily become boring. I asked my best friend from Warwick, Jade, for advice (because she's a veteran of online fundraising) and she suggested that we team up. She will be running the Great West Run (a half marathon) in Exeter in October, also for Starlight, and her plan is, in her own words, to 'try to empathise a little with the pain and discomfort' that I, and many children and young people, have experienced throughout our daily lives.

I am in a particularly good space at the moment, both physically and emotionally - and, even when I'm not, I don't mention the more difficult aspects of my life too often, preferring to focus on the parts for which I can be grateful, along with those that make me smile. That said, I could not forget the state I was in before I had my wish granted, and I am thankful every day that I have come so far since then - just as I will always acknowledge the part that Starlight played in getting me to where I am today. For that reason, I hugely appreciate Jade's effort to walk a mile in my shoes, especially because she has herself been instrumental in my quest to walk even just a little way in my own.

Hopefully some of you will fancy journeying with us for a time. Any support (a thumbs up or a smile in solidarity will do, if donating is not possible right now) will be hugely appreciated and gratefully received, both by us and by Starlight.

Thanks for reading my ramble - well done if you've made it this far!

Jessi (and Jade) xxx

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